Under My Skin

by The_Pegasus_Box

Rating: teen
Tags: Adventure, Dark, Alternate Universe
Length: 5619

A machine from long ago, saves one more life.

Long ago, an ancient race existed upon Equus.

Long ago, that is. Not even Discord knows what happened to them. Some say they died in a great war, or that they still exist in some unexplored corner of Equus. Some say, they just disappeared.

Fortunately for our little ponies, a lot of their secure sites survived the trial of time. Most of these sites today serve as an excellent filed trip for students and magicians-to-be.

Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle, managed to land their little school one of these trips up north by the Crystal Empire.

What could possibly go wrong?

The machine lies in wait.

Unaware of it's creators extinction, it thrives to complete its programmed task. This machine takes lives on the brink of death, and builds war machines. Sensing the event that conspired before it, the machine detects a life. Unfortunately, its fading quickly. Eagerly, it completes its programming.

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2015-05-08 23:15:38 UTC

My Birthday

Seismic activity detected

Initiating scans.............Complete

Life-form detected

Initiating scan

Physiology processed. Initiating biological scan of subject: Equine.

Life-signs.........Failing

Initiate 1#001ggggggR-R-R-Recovery.Restore.Weaponize

Hostility..............None

Initiating.

Initiating physical scan..............Complete

Torso.................UNSALVAGEABLE

Lower Torso................SALVAGEABLE

Fore Legs....................UNREQUIRED

Hind Legs.........UNASLVAGEABLE...........UNREQUIRED

Head.......................DAMAGED....................REPLACE

Initiate internal scan..........Complete

Heart...........SALVAGEABLE

Brain............SALVAGEABLE.............AUGMENTATION-COMPATIBLE

Optical Systems...................SALVAGEABLE....................AUGMENTATION-COMPATIBLE

Digestive system........................UNREQUIRED

Reproductive system.................DAMAGED...........REPAIR-AUTHORIZED

ALL OTHER ORGANS UNREQUIRED

Recovery complete

Initiate restore

The wall of ice which collapsed upon Sweetie Belle blocked any noise from entering the dark metal chamber, and hid those outside from the machine within. Panels opened on the ceiling and large mechanical arms melted the ice before pulled the crushed body of Sweetie Belle out, leaving her to lie limp in their grasp. The metal appendages moved across rusted metal slits upon the unlit ceiling, nearly silent in the dark tunnel. Passing through a gateway, the arms laid Sweetie upon a cold metal bed, four times her size.

Multiple other, smaller, arms of various sizes appeared from the ceiling. Blades, clippers, torches and other surgical tools attached to these machines began their work as a mask floated down and upon the white unicorn's face. The toxin injected stopped her heart.

Small scalpels cut away the skin of the pony, letting blood pool below. Arms with claws gently carried away the skin for scanning, leaving a flesh-exposed pony on the table. Multiple machines with clippers cut away the damaged flesh, exposing the brain and heart. Saws cut away the bone with diamond hard blades, careful not to touch the precious organs. Gentile rubber grasper's extracted the brain and heart. The blades moved to the lower section and repeated the process with the uterus, as well as the eyes. Rubber claws showed the same tendency.

The rest was incinerated.

In another part of the facility, the skin was scanned and the factory begun its work. The scans of the pony and the skin provided allowed the machine to begin its first, and only, prototype. The machine always built whatever organism it came across as close to the original as possible, a file installed in its processors called: BEHUMAN. Simply, the subjects wanted to be as close to their species as possible. Carbon-nanofiber organs and bodily systems accompanied a boron-nitride skeleton, nigh indestructible. The heart and uterus flew over in careful grip with rubber arms, they were attached to the organs before complete-seal. Long, black pipes arose from the floor and attached themselves to the body. Viscous red liquid flowed through the pipes and entered the still body. The liquid, made to look and feel like slightly black blood, is actually thousands of tiny nanites which can repair and rebuild the body.

Complete-seal is engaged next, a thin layer of gel particles resembling fat coated the metal framework and nano organs. Two 25mm flat rocket platforms containing six rockets each fitted into the empty space left by unneeded gel particles, a thin layer below their covering. Light-reactive-titanium armor plates atop a thick nano-leather fiber attached themselves to the metal body and neck. Two larger plates attached themselves to the rocket pods, appearing instead as large squares on the pony's back. Next, in a neighboring section, forehooves and hind legs finished their construction. Within the left fore leg a GAU/19X extending 7.7mm chain gun was fitted. The opposite leg was reserved for an extending mark 7F Double Assault Blade. Titanium plating and nano-leather coated these as well. The legs swung over, and clicked into their respective locations.

Hind legs rose from below the main torso. Built onto the "hooves" are four dropping side plates that can provide bipedal movement or aid in inclined travel. Initial scans showed the equine to be quadrupedal, which the machine classified as obsolete. From above, the head of the pony began on its final trial. Due to the lack of appendages like fingers, the horn upon the equines head was replaced with a direct energy spike. The eyes and brain, augmented to accept the machinery and combat systems, slid into their respective places. The cranium was closed, and the head attached to the metal pony. The ears which adorned the pony's head contain audio receptors which can pick up a sound ten meters away with clarity. Also, they could be repurposed to play audio files for the pony, or those around it. As programmed, the machine selected several thousand audio files, or modern music, at random and downloaded it to the data banks as a test. Two other arms, much smaller than the rest, attached eyelids to the pony.

The pony was set up by small pads covering only its lower hooves. More arms came from the ceiling, this time with dripping wet white nozzles. A coat of white military grade paint coated each titanium plate, complementing the green eyes. A rubber arm closed said eyes and two more painters washed over the eyelids. The instant-drying paint clung to the metal, allowing rubber claws to then flip the pony about, and more paint was applied to the lower hooves and coverings for the weapons. Many other bits and bobbles were added before the pony was classified as 90% complete.

Setting the pony down, one last touch was applied, the mane and tail of the removed skin was cleaned, processed, and attached to the head and tail of the machine-pony. The machine was proud of its work, as much as a machine can be. The pony would function, reproduce, feel emotions, and live like any other of its kind. Yet underneath, its true colors as a living war machine shined.

The machine added its final touch to the pony's memory banks, now 1,000 Terabytes of data storage, a audio/visual tutorial on how to control its body. A curtsy it was programmed with.

The rest of the arms and tools retracted, the are not needed for the ending process. Its ending function for the process, is to turn the pony ON.

One, single thin arm slid from the ceiling, on its end, a 1,000,000,000 lightning rod. The equivalent of a lightning bolt. For a second, it stopped before the pony.

Then, as if Arabus himself touched the figure, a lightning bolt screamed from the stick and impacted dead center.

This would be the machines last act. It ran out of power moments later, leaving the room dark.

Sweetie Belles eyes opened with a quiet *click*. It struck her as odd, seeing how eyes don't click. Around her was complete darkness, and she was standing. Hadn't the ceiling collapsed? It took her a moment through her confusion to noticed the thin light blue line around the edge of her vision, only breaking at the corners. At the top left of her sight two bars complemented by light blue text to their right sat. One bar read health, and the other armor. To her top right were three sets of numbers and letters.

1500xCG

100%FT

12xRK

This was confusing, albeit slightly scary as well.  Seeing blue text and numbers things around her vision set off a few red flags, of course, but also made her very curious. 'Child curiosity', was the usual excuse from Rarity whenever Sweetie's little adventures had the guard involved. Doing a test to see if the lines and symbols are, in fact, in her eyes, she looked left.

Sweetie Belle's body felt stiff, like it hadn't been used before, ever, and has been standing here for a while. Despite this, she confirmed the lines do in fact, exist in her vision.

"Woa..." Sweetie whispered, wondering what exactly this is.

Appeared before her eyes in golden text as a calm mare spoke the words.

"Ah!" Sweetie Belle jumped, she began turning her head in different directions searching for the sound of the voice, "Who's there? Hello?"

"OH! Uhh.... HEllo." Sweetie Belle squeaked, calming she knew the mares name, albeit an odd one. "Where are you? Uhh, what is an au-toe-ma-ma-m-whateveryousaid?"

Sweetie struck a puzzled look in front of her, "Well that doesn't make any sense, I'm a pony!"

Sweetie looked down. She couldn't see anything aside from her muzzle and mane, so she couldn't confirm whether this is true or not. Either way, if what ATOM says is true, this facility saved her life..

..Sorta.

"So... what now?"

A list of golden text appeared before her, at the top, it clearly read; Table Of Contents.

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Introduction.

Repairs.

Visual.

Audio.

Movement.

Direct Energy.

Weapons.

Weapon Repairs.

The mare's voice sounded in her head, Sweetie Belle found herself liking hearing it.

Shrugging mentally and externally, she complied. "Okay! Uhh, Introduction!"

Sweetie Belles vision went dark for a second, the light blue lines and golden text disappeared. She was about to ask if something went wrong when an image appeared before her. Blue lines made up a pony that strongly resembles herself, spinning in a circle. Golden text appeared below as ATOM spoke again.

Sweetie Belle watched as the pony did multiple things resembling the text popping beside it. Text which she recognized as the chapters in the table of contents. For repairs, it pulled off and put back on it's hind leg. For visual is showed the pony seeing in the dark, and for audio musical notes coming from the ears. The action for movement caught her attention as four pads dropped from the hind legs of the pony allowing it to run up what looked like an impossible slope. It even showed the pony doing some sort of magic for Direct Energy. But the most intriguing of all was the final two; for one it showed an arm extending to three stick-things and flashing a lot, then the pony cleaning the stick things with a rag. Soon, the pony and the text disappeared and the calming blue lines and text reappeared. All in all, it was very interesting. Unfortunately for Sweetie Belle's head though, seeing moving pictures gave it a headache.

"That's great and all, but can the next one not have any pictures? My head hurts"

Glancing around again, Sweetie decided actually being able to see would be the next best thing.

"So uh, is there any way I can see in here? Like maybe, that dark-seey-vision that pony had?"

Night vision sounded right to Sweetie Belle, "Yes please!"

So Sweetie Belle did, focusing on nothing but the three words, she was rewarded when a green flash crossed her vision as the room around her defined into existence. The room around her was dull, to say the least. Four flat walls surrounded her, with a flat ceiling, and a flat floor, all in a square tile pattern. Before her though, one tile had moved from the ceiling and a long snake like thing hanged from it. Sweetie Belle knew this was not a snake however, several sections shortened to metal joints, something a snake did not possess. Reaching a hoof up, she was about to poke it before she caught sight of her appendage.

Her hoof shone like bright metal, its white gleam causing her to squint. Between the white plates is a deep black material darker than Nightmare Moon's own coat. Sweetie stared at it for a few seconds, rotating and flipping it before her. Eventually, she looked down at herself.

ATOM was in fact, telling the truth. Her body was now made up of white metal plating and black material, all save for her tail and mane which seemed to be the same. Instead of screaming, panicking, or crying, she settled to poke herself in the chest repeatedly.

*Tink*

*Tink*

*Tink tink*

*TinktinktinktinktinktinkTINKTINKTINKTINKTINKCLANK!*

After physically slamming her hoof into her chest, she confirmed herself to be metal. A robot.

"Oh nononononononoNO! Oh Celestia, I'm a robot! Oh no Rarity's gonna be so angry!" Sweetie Belle said though hyperventilating, "What are Bloom and Scoots gunna think? Mom and Dad!?"

ATOM interrupted,

Sweetie Belle stopped halfway through a breath, her body coming to a complete stop. "Oh, well that isn't to bad." Though Sweetie belle knew this wasn't actually good at all, panicking would really do nothing right now. Besides, shes always liked those robot comics that Spike reads.

Sweetie Belle enjoyed a good five second of peace before two names reverberated through her mind.

Apple Bloom and Scootaloo.

The tunnel collapse... they probably think she's dead!

"I need to find a way out!"

ATOM spoke up.

"The what?"

"Oh, ok, yes please!"

Sweetie Belle raised her right hoof and slammed it to the ground with a loud *CLUNK*.

"Route!" She said cheerfully.

Through her vision, countless amounts of lime green lines shot out from where her hoof impacted and bounced off the walls, passed through gaps, and even through a small part of a wall.

A medium size, blue line appeared along the floor. Sweetie Belle began to follow it. Instead of clopping, her hooves made a clink-clank noise along the floor as she walked. Sweetie Belle, not wanting to lose her way and focusing only on the line before her, walked head first into a wall.

*CLUNK*

Sweetie Belle rubbed her head, "Oww.... Why is there a wall here?"

Weapons? Sweetie had weapons? "No thanks uhh... later. What do I do now? Can I open the door?"

Sweetie belle gave ATOM a deadpanned look... well, not really, she just stared at the door. Sighing, she decided to mimic what Scootaloo does when something isn't working.

Turning round, she bucked the door as hard as she could.

Doors, usually, don't open the way Sweetie opened hers. She could best describe the happenings as the door buckling in on itself. Then, being thrown across the hallway it blocked by an Ursa Major and taking a good chunk out of the other walls beside it. And on impact, molded itself with the far wall.

Sweetie Belle, simply, gawked.

"Uh huh..."

Sweetie Belle walked in relative silence down the long corridor's. Her mind was focused on one noise; the click-clank of metal against metal. Her hooves. She wondered, what would everypony think of her? About all of this? Apple Bloom and Scootaloo will probably think it's cool or something. Rarity would think it's *uncouth*. Her friends? Miss Fluttershy might faint. Zecora might know something about it. All in all though, they couldn't help her, whatever did this is far beyond any magic today. Not even Starswirl the Bearded managed to complete a magitech machine in his time. How does she know this? Twilight time, duh.

Sweetie's best option would to hide this somehow. Turning a right corner, she posed the question to ATOM.

"Hey ATOM, is there any way to.. ya know.. HIDE myself?"

"Uhh, no- WaitWHAT! I can do that!? EEEEEEEEEE!" Sweetie squee'd, INVISIBILITY! Oh she is going to have so much fun with that on Nightmare Night. But, there is a matter at hoof. Calming her excitement, she elaborated on her original question, "No no no, what I mean is: Can I look like a normal pony?"

A smile formed on Sweeties metallic muzzle,

"Yes please!" Sweetie chirped as she walked. Hopefully this can hide herself long enough to break the news lightly. Stopping against a wall, Sweetie waited for ATOM's instructions.

So Sweetie Belle did. Her mind focused on her original self and only that. Her eyes, muzzle, mane, legs, everything. As soon as she had the image perfect, she thought the word IMITATE. From her concentrated glare, she could see her muzzle glow lime green through the night vision. The glow intensified, then whisked away in a single second. Looking at her foreleg, she saw the familiar furry texture. Giving herself a quick once over, she confirmed herself to be a fuzzy white pony again. The only downside being, her mother will still call her "Mini marshmallow".

Now with a bounce in her step, she continued through the dark hallways, the only sound being a light tune being hum'd and the click-clank of metal hooves.

It took time, but eventually Sweetie Belle found her way through the twists and turns of the facility to where ice became visible on the ceiling. Puddles and droplets from the ceiling soon littered the floor as she walked. Rounding a corner, she came face to face with her greatest enemy. Another wall. This wall however, had a small thick grate near the bottom. She remembered seeing one like this on the way in with her class. Her and her friends tried to open it before Twilight stopped them, telling them it's; Government Property. Eyeing the metal, she wondered how to get past without taking half the wall with it. Bucking it wouldn't be an option, along with any other direct force.

"ATOM, is there any way I can get past this without breaking the wall?"

"Oh. Right." Sweetie sighed. Maybe she could... pull it off? Physical force worked last time, albeit with an undesirable result, so maybe less force and in a different direction would work? Crouching down to the grate, she searched but could not find a good place to put her hooves. With a pout, she fell back on her haunches.

"This is a stupid grate. I wish it would just... I don't know... MELT!"

Sweetie Belle, in her mind, had no other option. Rarity always taught her weapons were a bad thing, and to stay away from them. But, ever since thirty minutes ago, she apparently had access to a weapon. Sweetie Belle is not stupid, she knew today changed her life, and it's up to her to make the best of it. Also, since Rarity isn't here, she can't get her in trouble can she?

"Alright, how do I do that?"

Sweetie did just so as she brought a question to light that has been filling her mind, "You keep telling me to turn on and off all this stuff by thinking that, how can my brain do all this?"

Augmented? Sweetie never heard somepony's mind being changed before. Twilight used to "augment" plants to grow certain fruits, but she never did anything on any intelligent thing before. Though disturbing, getting back to her friends and family is probably more important.

"OK. What now?"

Disturbing, was the first thing which came to Sweetie Belle's mind. Although ATOM's instructions hadn't failed yet, she had her doubts about this one. The doubt was quenched when, succumbing to ATOM's instructions, she "pushed" the inside of her right foreleg out.

Sweetie witnessed the operation in morbid fascination. Her foremost section on her right foreleg folded into a semi flat state while keeping its average width, opening at the top in a slit. All the black material which existed on that section of her leg before disappeared beneath the metal. From her folded-foreleg, two long blades shot outwards, nearly catching her in the eye as she tried to peer inside. The blades were curved in a way which the flat side was flanked by the opposite. Between the two, a small black tube with holes in it stuck out barely a few centimeters from her hoof. Just as she thought the process was done, the two blades started to glow until they radiated heat, their edges white hot. As Sweetie examined the weapon from each side, ATOM gave a quick explanation.

Sweetie stopped listening to the explanation. Standing on her three legs, she attempted to put the blade on the floor only to come in contact with fizzing water and an awkward stance. The blade did face in a way its parallel to her body, but standing on it was not an option. Looking up, she wondered how long it would take for her to simply melt her way through the mountain this place is located in, though, she probably will never get a chance to do just that. In any case, now she had a way through the grate, and a personal toaster.

Sometime in her thought's, ATOM stopped talking. Limping to the grate, she raised her right hoof and swung downwards across the metal. The grate of course, was cut in half, but her attack left a large gash on the above wall. Unfortunately, it seemed the grate was attached on the sides by screws, and a simple cut in half would not work. Using her sword-leg again, she did two, more precise cuts, along the sides of the grate. The grate promptly fell off in two pieces.

Sweetie retracted the weapon, by pulling inwards instead of outwards, which to her amazement worked, and activated her camouflage. Confirming her hoof was normal and fuzzy again, she got on her stomach and crawled through the vent. She crawled for a few trots before the familiar sight of unnatural light filled her vision. Unfortunately, with her night vision still on, it was an almost blinding light. Giving the opposite another shot, she thought Night Vision: Deactivate. In an instant, the world around her went dark and only the light from the magic-bulbs illuminated her path. Crawling forward, she soon came to the familiar sight of another grate.

Sweetie Belle grumbled something Rarity would scold her for later. Fortunately for her however, she grumbled the word a little loud,

"Hey! I heard something!" Somepony said beyond the grate. Sweetie's ears perked up at the sound. She started banging her hooves, without breaking the grate, and shouting to get the ponies attention. Soon, the familiar clicking of guard armor on metal surfacing filled her ears. Scooting even closer, she pressed the side of her head, careful of her horn, and looked to see two crystal guards running towards the grate. The two stopped before her and peered inside.

"Hi!" She waved. But before she could say anything else, a new flash of blue caught her attention. From the guards head, a line appeared with the title "Royal Guard" on top. Below, smaller text appeared displaying information such as sex, age, race, and hostility.

"You the filly from Miss Cheerilee's class?" The one on the left asked. A yellow pegasus guard with a light green plume.

"Yup!" Sweetie Belle answered. Snapping herself out of her own trance.

"Glow" The one to the right said to the other, Glow. A purple unicorn guard with a light purple plume. "Go find the Princesses, I'll get her out"

The other guard nodded and ran off. But before he did, the text beside his head changed to say Glow instead of Guard, much to Sweetie's fascination. The voice from the other guard broke Sweetie out of her stare. He stepped back and brandished his sword, "Step back filly"

Sweetie complied and the guard stabbed the blade between the grate and the wall. Pushing the blade down, the hard enchanted gold of the weapon bore more resistant to the pressure and the grate popped off. Sweetie crawled out and onto the snow covered metal path. To her right, she could hear multiple hoofsteps echoing her way. The guard must have heard it too as he tuned and saluted when the Princesses Twilight and Cadence, Cheerilee, and the guard from before rounded the corner. Sweetie took notice of the titles displayed in the blue text beside the approaching figures.

Sweetie Belle beamed a smile as the three ran up to greet her. Well, it's a greeting in concept. Twilight ran up to Sweetie and instantly flashed up a quill and notebook, she began to pester her with question after question. Cheerilee grabbed the filly by her sides and began to look over her every inch, shouting questions most mothers say when a filly falls for the first time. The entire time Sweetie laid limp as Cheerilee gave her a full body examination, her ears folded to her head, she simply stared off into the distance, unamused. The two guards attempted, and almost succeeded, to hold in their after to Sweetie's misfortune, but Cadence falling on her rump and facehoofing a mighty facehoof made them snap. All in all, its what Sweetie expected.

She just hoped she wouldn't have to explain what really happened, and she could pull of lying to two Princesses.

Sweetie, of course, succeeded in hiding herself. After Cadence calmed down the panicking teacher and the over-excited Twilight, the four of them left the tunnels. It was a short walk back to where their camp was. On the way there, Sweetie notice she made much deeper hoof-prints than the taller ponies. Not to mention Cheerilee complaining how much she weighs, though Sweetie couldn't help but wonder if she wasn't supposed to hear that. A conclusion came to Sweetie's mind; the urban Camouflage only work's on image, and not physical trait. And since she's now made of metal among other things, she probably weighs a lot. The rest of the trip to the camp was uneventful. A few times Twilight asked what Sweetie saw, her only response was a dark metal hallway, which in itself was not a lie. At first, she worried they could see the blue lines and symbols in her vision too, but realized that was stupid. She did however notice in the bottom left of her vision a figure of a pony appeared. The figure started to turn icy-blue and a small warning indicated a temperature drop outside. The glow was also more intense near her hooves when they entered and exited the snow. Sweetie was so caught up in this she didn't notice herself walk straight into the camp until two familiar voices reached her ears.

"Sweetie belle!" Both Scootaloo and Apple Bloom shouted and they ran across the camp towards her. Sweetie looked up to see her two best friends in all of Equestria, she smiled. Her smile grew when she noticed the text beside their heads was not blue, but green. The hostility reading best friend. Though, her smile faltered when she realized the two, much stronger than her, fillies were charging her for an immense hug. Sweetie had a few seconds to brace herself as the figures jumped towards her. It was not necessary however, as the two fillies stopped dead as soon as they hit her. The resounding clunk was somewhat loud. Looking from the two vibrating fillies, she was glad to see the Princesses and Cheerilee had moved on. Scootaloo and Apple Bloom let go of Sweetie Belle and dropped into the snow. As soon as they stopped vibrating, Apple Bloom posed the question which Sweetie couldn't answer.

"Woa Sweetie, why are ya so... hard?"

Shrugging, Sweetie lied and fake shivered. "I don't know. I guess I'm kinda frozen."

"Well lets go get warmed up and you can tell us all about what happened!" Scootaloo said cheerfully. Sweetie nodded and followed her friends to the fire which raged in the camp center. The camp was half temporary, half constant. The fillies in her class had packed a tent and sleeping bag each which are set up around a campfire. On the other hand, a small structure beside the camp stood as a research facility. The structure was too small to house the staff, guards, and Princesses, so Twilight cast a heating spell on each tent to keep the fillies warm inside. Sweetie walked over to her tent, a light purple material with the CMC symbol on it, in between Scootaloo's orange and Apple Blooms red tent's respectively. Opening the flap and stepping inside, she was blasted by a wave of heat. The little pony sensor in her vision burned red for a second before turning to a neutral blue and disappearing. Sweetie, by now, had realized it was a thermostat. Rummaging through her stuff, Sweetie pulled out a light pink scarf and wrapped it around her neck. She wondered for a moment, how much of a temperature drop can she really take? Being made of metal has its perks.

Stepping back outside, the pony figure reappeared in her vision and started to glow blue again, though this time it's considerably dimmer around her neck. Sweetie saw Scoots and Bloom sitting on a log near the campfire. Walking up to them, she joined them by the fire. Scootaloo pulled a thermos from the snow and hoofed it to Sweetie. She took it and unscrewed the cap, she was about to drink the liquid inside, which smelled greatly of hot chocolate, when a concern crossed her mind.

Since she is a robot, or, cyborg. Can she still eat like a pony? ATOM can answer this, but it would look strange if she is talking to a pony who isn't there, or even to nopony in particular. Silently scooting away from her friends, she looked over the camp, and found nopony close to her. Whispering under her breath, she asked ATOM.

"Psst, ATOM, do I have to drink oil or something now? Being a BOT and all? Please keep your voice down, I don't want ponies to hear us."

ATOM replied,

Sweetie thanked ATOM and had to stop herself from jumping in joy. If she was unable to eat like a normal pony, things might have gone wrong then and there. Taking a drink from the thermos, she wondered how she could still taste the liquid, but not feel its heat. The stuff was practically smoking like a volcano. Over the next hour or so, Sweetie answered questions from everypony in her class. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon cut in a few times with some snarky remarks, but nothing too serious. She did notice, however, the information displayed by everypony were all blue, non hostile. But, whenever Diamond and Silver came by the text beside them flashed orange, and the hostility changed from neutral to threat. This concerned Sweetie even more, when she felt the blade in her hoof attempting to force itself out. Luckily, Cheerilee came by and told everypony its time to sleep, seeing how the sun was setting. Apparently after Sweetie's incident, the trip was canceled. It was supposed to be a few days long, not a few hours. Before everypony went to bed however, they all said they were glad Sweetie's OK.

But... is she really ok?

Sitting in her tent, the flap closed tight, she waited for everypony to fall asleep. Until the only light left on was hears did she shut it off. She did not go to sleep however. Turning off her camouflage, she brandished the blade once again from her right hoof, heating white. During her wait, she asked ATOM if she could turn it off, the heat that is. It was a simple thought and the blade was as cool as ice. In the metal, she could see the reflection of her face, split down the center by the gap in the weapon.

The black lines across her face and the odd hole at the top of her horn did nothing to ease her worry.

Is she really OK with this?

No... no she isn't. She's not a pony anymore, not Rarity's sister.

Then, Sweetie did something she never thought any machine could do.

She felt the entire process too. From within the back of her head it rushed down, then upwards. She felt the microscopic valves open on her eyes.

Sweetie began to cry.